Weismann barrier

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/weismann-barrier

1. What is the proponent?
2. What is the publication year?
3. Why did August Weismann create the Weismann barrier?
4. How does the Weismann barrier explain why we don’t inherit our adult changes?

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the proponent?August Weismann
2. What is the publication year?1892
3. Why did August Weismann create the Weismann barrier?He wanted to show how traits are inherited and to explain why changes you make in your body don’t get passed on to your children.
4. How does the Weismann barrier explain why we don’t inherit our adult changes?Because the barrier keeps germ cells apart from the rest of the body, so any changes that happen in body cells stay in the body and don’t travel to the next generation.

Germline: The lineage of cells that are passed from one generation to the next, carrying genetic information.
Somatic Cells: All cells in a multicellular organism that are not germ cells; they form the body's tissues and organs.
Lamarckian Inheritance: A theory suggesting that acquired characteristics during an organism's lifetime can be inherited by its offspring.
Epigenetic Inheritance: Heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve alterations to the underlying DNA sequence.